Plex vs Jellyfin: Best Media Server for Your Homelab in 2025

If you’ve built a homelab or home server, setting up a personal media server is almost a rite of passage. Two of the most popular options in 2025 are Plex and Jellyfin. Both let you stream your movies, TV shows, music, and photos to TVs, phones, and tablets—but they take very different approaches to licensing, features, and privacy.

This Plex vs Jellyfin comparison will help you decide which is better for your setup, whether you’re running a low‑power box in a cupboard or a full‑blown rack server in the garage.

Plex Overview: Polished Experience with Optional Premium

Plex has been around for years and built a reputation on:

• A slick, polished user interface.
• Wide device support (smart TVs, consoles, mobile apps, streaming sticks).
• Features like remote streaming, automatic metadata, and live TV/DVR.

Plex is free at the core but offers Plex Pass, a paid subscription that unlocks:

• Hardware‑accelerated transcoding (on many platforms).
• Mobile sync and offline downloads.
• More advanced user management and features.

Plex uses a central account system and can integrate free ad‑supported streaming content alongside your own library.

Jellyfin Overview: Fully Open Source and Self-Hosted

Jellyfin is a community‑driven, fully open‑source media server forked from Emby many years ago.

Key traits:

• No subscriptions—all features are free.
• Completely self‑hosted with no mandatory cloud account.
• Active plugin ecosystem and community support.

Jellyfin focuses strongly on privacy and control. There’s no centralised tracking, and your server can run entirely within your local network if you prefer.

Installation and Hardware Requirements

Both Plex and Jellyfin run well on:

• Dedicated PCs or mini PCs.
• NAS devices (depending on model and support).
• Docker containers on homelab hosts.

Plex has:

• Official packages for many NAS brands.
• Native installers for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Well‑documented Docker images.

Jellyfin also offers:

• Cross‑platform installers and Docker images.
• Good documentation for Linux‑based home servers and containers.

For 1080p streaming to a few devices, a modest CPU is often enough—especially if your clients can handle direct play. For multiple concurrent transcodes, look for CPUs with strong iGPU support or consider a discrete GPU/accelerator where supported.

User Interface and Client Support

Plex UX Strengths

• Highly polished apps on smart TVs, streaming sticks, and mobile devices.
• Intuitive layout for non‑technical family members.
• Extra features like trailers, extras, and mood‑based music mixes.

Jellyfin UX Strengths

• Clean, improving UI with a focus on your own media.
• No ads or upsells to external content.
• Customisable themes and community skins.

Client support for Jellyfin has grown rapidly, with apps for major platforms, but Plex still leads in sheer breadth and polish of official clients.

Transcoding, Direct Play, and Performance

The biggest performance factors for media servers are:

• Direct Play: Sending media to clients in a format they can handle natively.
• Transcoding: Re‑encoding media on‑the‑fly to match client capabilities or bandwidth.

Plex:

• Offers robust transcoding with good hardware acceleration support (especially with Plex Pass).
• Handles mixed device environments gracefully.

Jellyfin:

• Also supports hardware acceleration through VAAPI, NVENC, Quick Sync, and others, depending on platform.
• May require a bit more manual configuration in homelab contexts, especially for GPU passthrough in Docker or virtual machines.

If you mostly play well‑encoded H.264/H.265 files on modern clients, both can be configured to minimise heavy transcoding.

Privacy and Cloud Dependence

This is where the Plex vs Jellyfin decision often becomes personal.

Plex

• Uses central Plex accounts for server discovery and remote access.
• Mixes your personal library with optional online content and services.
• Has improved privacy controls over the years, but still relies on cloud connectivity for some features.

Jellyfin

• No central account needed; entirely self‑hosted.
• You control where and how the server is exposed to the internet.
• Appeals strongly to privacy‑minded users and self‑hosting enthusiasts.

If you prefer a maximum‑control, minimum‑cloud philosophy in your homelab, Jellyfin aligns well with that mindset.

Which Media Server Should You Choose?

Consider:

• Ease of use for family members: Plex often wins here with its polished clients.
• Subscription vs free: Jellyfin gives you everything without an ongoing fee.
• Privacy: Jellyfin favours local control; Plex is more cloud‑integrated.
• Ecosystem fit: If you already use lots of open‑source homelab tools, Jellyfin may slot in more naturally.

Many hobbyists even run both—Plex for household or remote streaming, Jellyfin as a fully open‑source alternative for experimentation.

Plex vs Jellyfin Homelab Checklist

1. Assess your hardware (NAS, PC, or server) and network capabilities.
2. Decide how much you value plug‑and‑play polish vs open‑source control.
3. Test both Plex and Jellyfin in Docker or on a spare machine.
4. Compare streaming quality, responsiveness, and ease of use on your devices.
5. Pick the one that best fits your homelab philosophy—or keep both for different roles.

Whichever you choose, running your own media server is one of the most rewarding homelab projects, turning your collection into a private streaming service tailored exactly to your tastes.